Five for Friday: Dangerous Myths, Smart Mosquitoes, Nutella ‘Riots’

CHICAGO, IL (January 26, 2018) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.

I think about this every time I see a TV show or movie in which a couple are fighting and the man suddenly begins kissing a woman, and after brief resistance, she begins kissing him back. I’m a huge Bruce Springsteen fan but I’m glad that he hasn’t performed “Fire” in years, a song that became especially popular when the Pointer Sisters sang it, rising to Number 2 on the charts in 1979.

The original lyrics: “I’m driving in my car, I turn on the radio/I’m pulling you close, you just say no/You say you don’t like it, but girl I know you’re a liar/Cause when we kiss/Hmm, fire”

As sung by the Pointer Sisters: I’m ridin’ in your car, you turn on the radio
/You’re pullin’ me close, I just say no/I say I don’t like it, but you know I’m a liar/Cause when we kiss, ooh, fire

From the article: “Entertainment glorifying or excusing predatory male behavior is everywhere—from songs about ‘blurred lines’ to TV shows where rapists marry their victims.”

There is a backlash against “diversity” by those who say it’s too hard to achieve, others who want the term broadened, and still others who say it’s too shallow.

From the article: “‘We’re hearing a lot about diversity,’ the filmmaker Ava DuVernay said last year in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite social-media campaign. ‘I hate that word so, so much.’ She explained that there was something ‘medical’ and cold about diversity, and that speaking of belonging or inclusion seemed a more accurate way of describing what long-marginalized people actually wanted.

People who are more compassionate towards themselves tend to be happier, better at improving weaknesses, and serving others. Self-confidence can prove to be a real weakness.

From the study: “For example, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology asked people to describe themselves while being recorded on video. Those subjects were then told they would be rated on how likable, friendly and intelligent they seemed in the video. Subjects who had high levels of self-compassion had generally the same emotional reaction no matter how they were rated. By contrast, people with high levels of self-esteem had negative emotional reactions if the feedback was simply neutral and not exceptional. They were also more likely to blame unexceptional ratings on outside factors.”

Apparently, mosquitoes have the ability to learn. Who would have thought?
From the article: “Getting inside the minds of these insects, the authors argue, will help scientists come up with new ways to control them. And that’s important, because mosquitoes are among the deadliest animals on the planet, infecting hundreds of millions of people annually around the globe and killing hundreds of thousands. (The urban-dwelling Aedes aegypti is a particularly difficult species to eradicate.)”

Share this Story

About the Author

Stan Friedman is the news and online editor for the Covenant Companion and is grateful for the opportunity to serve in a job that combines his newspaper and pastoral ministry experience. He has been to 15 Bruce Springsteen concerts in four cities and listened to “Thunder Road” an average of at least once a day for 41 years.